Banned soccer fans respond to ban by parachuting flares into the stadium

Turkish team Fenerbahçe was serving out a penalty imposed on them by UEFA where they were forced to play a match without their fans in attendance. The team itself complied completely with the ban, but Fenerbahçe supporters were obviously not too happy about it.

The UEFA has ordered Fenerbahçe to play without the attendance of fans again following an incident where the team’s supporters deployed flares into the stadium from outside using small parachutes during the UEFA Europa League last 32 second leg game against Belarus side BATE Borisov in Istanbul on Feb. 21.

Despite the UEFA ban, Fenerbahçe fans gathered outside the Şükrü Saraçoğlu Stadium in Kadıköy to support their team despite not being allowed to enter the stadium. Fans found an unprecedented way supporting their team: parachuting flares onto the pitch from outside the stadium’s gates, which was not the taste of UEFA observer Stefano Farina.

“Those who sent these flares must be idiots,” he said, adding that the incendiary devices resulted in the burning of the Turkish flag. Five people were detained on suspicion of launching the flares into the stadium’s grounds.